Overpopulation Myths:

There have been several articles in the Fargo Forum of late directly related to abortion and I felt led to respond to some of them. I'm not sure that this will be published yet but I'd like to share anyway. - Lydia Benton

"In response to Dudley Wells’ letter, published, Tuesday May 11, he replies to another’s claim that God would always vote against abortion by saying, “but Jesus Christ taught us that what is more important is not strict adherence to church doctrine, but what is in one’s heart, and as the prayer book says, ‘His property is always to have mercy.’” Mr. Wells is right, God’s property is always to have mercy but His mercy does not include acting outside of His own statutes. Supporting a woman's choice to have an abortion is never, in any case, an act of mercy. It is not merciful to the baby, mother, or anyone else involved. It is horribly painful to the baby, as a fetus can feel pain at 8 weeks. The process is not only physically searing to the mother, but as more evidence proves, it often has life-long psychological effects that conflict with relationships, work, and self, which can cause serious bouts of depression and self destruction. Aside from the horrifying and sad effects upon those involved remains the deeper fact that abortion is immoral and ungodly. Science has proven that life begins at conception and ending a life through abortion is taking that life; killing that child. Abortion is never an act of mercy or compassion and stating otherwise constitutes a mockery of God as He is benevolent, righteous, and incapable of sin.

Christ did not teach that what was in one’s heart was more important than church doctrine. If Mr. Wells is referring to Christ chastising the Pharisees, then Christ was criticizing not the law, but how stale their faith was. They could follow the law to the letter, but were incapable of sincere worship; they had no passion, vitality, or faith in their worship.

Mr. Wells also suggests that abortion is the only method available for women for the “trials of birthing and to limit the size of their families” in much of the world. I completely disagree with the language presented as it makes children out to be burdens and women victims. Pregnancy is not a plague. It is impossible for women to become pregnant without involving a male. Unfortunately, what is so often presented as a solution ends up turning into a story of grief and sadness. As many have discovered, an abortion does indeed end the life growing within them, but their problems will multiply.

Overpopulation is a myth. There are 1.4 million children killed every year by abortion in this country. Over four thousand each day, twelve every five minutes, one every twenty-five seconds. One in four pregnancies end in abortion. Oddly enough…our world is so overpopulated that humans only occupy 3 percent of the earth’s surface. Our world is so overpopulated that the entire world population could each be allotted 1250 square feet in the state of Texas. Here are the numbers: 7,438,152,268,800 square feet in Texas, divided by the world population of 5,860,000,000, equals 1269 square feet per person. America is not meeting the amount of births necessary to even maintain our population nor are many European counties, and as a result, the quality of life is not rising, but suffering further, as there are not enough young people to take on the necessary work and responsibilities as the aged retire. Even if we were suffering from overpopulation, would we really want to live in a society where our standard of living was bought with the blood of the innocent?

Mr. Wells' letter illustrates his lack of knowledge in many areas; most troubling among them is his mischaracterization of the word of our Lord and Savior. His attitude toward innocent life is offensive and unfortunately, pervasive. I hope he will take the time to reconcile his views with the facts and change his witness as a Christian."